The kick will go forever to the left. It will never change its course. But Paul McCallum was determined not to let it change his.

The memory of a botched 18-yard field goal in overtime of the 2004 CFL West Final, playing for the Saskatchewan Roughriders against the B.C. Lions, will never leave him. Yet it made him.

McCallum, now 46, admitted as much Monday, when he signed a ceremonial one-day contract with the Lions, then officially retired from professional football after 23 seasons.

“That whole ’04 situation really helped me mentally,” McCallum admitted. “It helped me figure out what I had to do to become a better kicker. My mindset changed. I didn’t let it define me or give in to the whole Scott Norwood comparison. You never heard of him after that.”

Norwood, the kicker for the Buffalo Bills, missed a 47-yard attempt toward the end of Super Bowl XXV. The final result: New York Giants 20, Bills 19. Norwood lived with the burden for years, associated as the man who blew Buffalo’s title aspirations, his name becoming a punchline for screwup.

And that could have been McCallum’s fate, too. His miss cost the Roughriders a Grey Cup berth — the Lions claimed it after a 27-25 overtime victory — and resulted in threats and vandalism (manure was mistakenly dumped on a neighbour’s lawn) by unsavoury elements of the ’Riders fan base.

To fail, to pick oneself up, to start over and become even better was the measure of McCallum thereafter. Signed by the Lions as a free agent in February, 2006, he excelled after his 36th birthday.

He booted six field goals in the 2006 Grey Cup game as the Lions won their fifth title, a 25-14 win over the Montreal Alouettes. McCallum, in fact, did not miss a single field goal in nine playoff seasons with the Lions. In 2011, another Grey Cup year, he had a 94 per cent success rate and hit 30 straight — a league record, since controversially broken by Calgary’s Rene Paredes, who had a kick blocked that did not count against his record of 39 in a row.

“If somebody blocks the ball, it’s still a kick,” McCallum insisted. “It is what it is. But I’m still happy with everything that happened in my career.”

It concludes with 339 regular-season appearances with B.C., Saskatchewan and Ottawa (he played three games for the Rough Riders in 1993), the fourth-highest total all-time. His career total of 3,131 points is second only to his mentor, Lui Passaglia (3,391), in CFL history. Passaglia played 25 seasons and retired after he turned 46. McCallum reached that birthday on Jan. 7.

“I know I can still kick,” he said. “But I don’t have the same drive and determination to do it.”

Re-signed by the Lions a year ago this month, McCallum walked out on them after the first week of training camp when it became apparent rookie Richie Leone was management’s choice and the “competition” for kicker was a farce. He was later picked up on the rebound by Saskatchewan, then released again.

“At the point where I’m at now, I don’t want to go back and reflect on that,” McCallum said. “In sports, organizations do what they feel is best for them. They did. And I respect that. I’m OK with what happened. I’ve moved on.”

The Lions have put boots to the controversy as well. They will publicly recognize McCallum’s outstanding career at their first regular-season home game, Saturday, June 25 against Calgary.